Sandwich selectmen eye three-station plan; locations still an issue

Tuesday

Oct 29, 2013 at 12:01 AMOct 29, 2013 at 8:11 AM

Selectmen – with loads of questions, reservations and fiscal concerns – agreed last Thursday night to support a feasibility study into a three-station public safety proposal that would cost an estimated $20 million and require a Proposition 2½ override to fund another ambulance crew.

Selectmen – with loads of questions, reservations and fiscal concerns – agreed last Thursday night to support a feasibility study into a three-station public safety proposal that would cost an estimated $20 million and require a Proposition 2½ override to fund another ambulance crew.

The stinging defeat at May Town Meeting and the polls of a $30 million joint public-safety facility still weighs on selectmen, and board member Frank Pannorfi repeatedly reminded the board that it must remember the voters’ strong message about extreme cost and the need for a fire station presence in East Sandwich.

The public safety review group has been revising its approach to upgrading police and fire response times in town. Town Manager Bud Dunham remains optimistic.

“We’ve been trying to fine-tune the plans and cut them down from what we offered before,” Dunham told selectmen. “We feel we’ve cut a lot to get to the board’s stated goal of $20 million.”

Dunham said background work to date concentrates on buildings and delivery of services, not actual locations. The planning has reduced a joint police/fire headquarters size from 56,000 square feet to 33,000; something Police Chief Peter Wack and Fire Chief George Russell said they could live with and still carry out their missions.

Sub-station sizes have also been reduced and modular construction is now favored to save money.

Locations

Initial location recommendations favor a main headquarters at Quaker MeetingHouse and Cotuit Roads, an East Sandwich sub-station at Sandwich High School and a downtown sub-station along Route 130 near the public works barn.

Selectmen closely evaluated the three-station concept and agreed that Dunham should fund a feasibility study that would include an analysis of intended locations. The manager said he has $7,000 remaining from original project review and would find another $35,000 in the town budget.

In terms of a fallback scenario by selectmen, fire headquarters at Route 6A would be converted to a sub-station; this likely pleasing residents living downtown and at Town Neck, who vocally opposed plans for a joint facility at QuakerMeeting House and Cotuit Roads with no public safety presence or reasonable response times for their areas.

Pannorfi said the review group should more closely consider a sub-station in East Sandwich, even approaching property owners.

The board agreed the current station sits in a newly mapped floodplain zone and cannot be utilized in public safety planning. Pannorfi said the group should also approach landowners in a similar regard along Tupper Road.

Departmental growth

Selectwoman Susan James took another tack, asking if the revised planning as now taking shape and head to feasibility review would accommodate logical growth within the police and fire departments.

Dunham said the three station plan – should it evolve to the point of voter satisfaction – would not accommodate “future substantial growth” in the departments. “Normal growth?” he said. “Perhaps.”

“What I’m hearing is … that this will get us by,” Selectman Ralph Vitacco said.

Selectmen Chairman James Pierce was next. “What I’m hearing is that it’s a big step in the right direction.”

Selectman John Kennan said the next public safety plan to take shape “is still an awful lot of money, but we’re moving in the right direction. But what about one more sub-station?”

Pannorfi repeated his point, that is, the East Sandwich coverage issue still must be closely addressed.

“It’s a perception issue in East Sandwich,” he said. “A station at the high school might meet response time needs for East Sandwich, but there are some people who still want to open the East Sandwich station, which we cannot do.”

Kennan said that overall the board is still “struggling” with what to do about upgrading public safety in Sandwich. “The question is what price do we put on public safety,” he said.

Pierce said an option still remains: proceed with a three-station plan but put a sub-station in East Sandwich instead of at SHS.